Hunter's first birthday - part 2

For Hunter's birthday party, Josh and I decided that it would be fun to have a "light" party. As mentioned in earlier posts, Hunter LOVES lights and he enjoys flicking the light switch off and on. I tried to Google some "light party ideas" but I found NOTHING! This idea didn't exist! We were on our own! So, we decided to gather as many weird and interesting lights as we could from friends and relatives. We had lava lamps, Christmas lights, black lights, a siren, a stoplight, a disco ball and an electricity ball (you know, the one has bolts of "lightning" and you put your hand on it and the bolts go to your hand?) We also got a ton of glow sticks that looked like swords and wands for the younger kids in our families and a ton of glow bracelets and necklaces. It was awesome that we could find that kind of stuff because of the time of year that he was born! :D My sister came over the day before the party and helped me get everything decorated, so I didn't have to worry about it the day of. Hunter thought it was very interesting when he saw her up on the tall wall putting up Christmas lights (as demonstrated in the pic).

I decided that I wanted to make Hunter a shirt that said, "I'm one year old," so he could wear it while eating his birthday cake. I thought it would be cool to get a darker colored shirt and have the writing be white or glow in the dark, so it would look awesome under the black light. So, I got the stuff to do it and it turned out pretty good...

And now back to what happened at the party...

After Hunter got ready for the party, we decided to give him his first taste of milk before the party guests arrived. I didn't give him any throughout the day because I wasn't sure if you just say, "Here's your milk - drink up!" or if you give them a little at a time. I found out that it doesn't matter, so we put some in a sippy cup - cold - and he didn't really want anything to do with it. It was probably because he had just eaten a little before that...

Everyone started arriving and we passed out the glow swords and wands to the kids - and they loved them! We even got Hunter a yellow glow sword as well. (On a side note, yellow, we have discovered, is his favorite color... hmmm, I wonder why? What else is yellow that he loves? LOL! If you don't know what I'm refering to, think about the theme of the party... :P) We also gave the adults the glow necklaces and bracelets and the "light" party was on! It was still a little light outside when we started but the lights still looked cool. We started eating and I expected some people to go downstairs and hang out because my upstairs isn't THAT big for the amount of people we had at the party. But no one did! They all wanted to be where the lights were! (I didn't decorate downstairs, just in case anyone wanted to get away from the lights...)

The food was very yummy and the pasta bar was a success. Everyone commented on the yummy alfredo sauce (made my Josh's mom), chicken, breadsticks (Hunter really liked those - as displayed in the left picture), salad and meatballs (made by Sam's Club - hehe). I felt bad because Josh's grandpa is somewhat blind, so this whole "light" party made it very hard for him to see because it was dark. So, we ended up cracking the blinds in the front room so he could see what he was eating. He kept joking about it, so it seemed like he was okay with it... I guess we didn't think that part of the party through very well! Sorry grandpa!

After we finished eating, we decided to do presents because Hunter was getting a little awnry because it was getting close to his bedtime. We turned on some lights, so the pics would turn out and sat him on my lap. He kept squirming and trying to get away because he didn't want to sit still but as soon as he saw his first present - the Lightning McQueen toy I mentioned in my last post - it definitely caught his interest. And not just his interest but the interest of EVERY child at the party! They all gathered around as Hunter tried to check out his new toy and they started to fight over it! Josh wanted to bust out the new toy so everyone could play with it and I warned him not to because there wasn't time to open every single new toy that Hunter got... but he opened it anyways. Later on at the party, the kids ended up beating each other up over the Lightning McQueen toy, so we had to hide it so the kids would stop fighting over it... I guess it was a cool toy!

We continued to open presents and had to hurry through them because Hunter was very impatient. Any time that I tried to show him anything other than a toy (clothes in particular), he would push it away and try to escape off my lap. I felt bad because we were rushing through the presents and I thought it seemed like we weren't grateful for the gifts and time that our family spent picking them out for Hunter. But I'm sure that everyone understood that a 1 year old's attention span is very limited!

To be continued... (because after I typed up this whole thing, it ended up being THREE pages in Microsoft Word! Guess I have a lot to say!)

Hunter's first birthday - part 1

Hunter turned one year old last Friday! It seems like just yesterday that I was taking him home from the hospital... it's nuts! He is such a big boy now - definitely not my "little baby" anymore...

Hunter decided that he wanted to start his birthday celebration early, so he woke up at 3 am and started to cry. He NEVER wakes up in the middle of the night crying, so I went in to soothe him. For the life of me, I could not find his binky anywhere and we only have one, so I had to set him down to look for it. He started crawling around and he thought that was the best thing ever! I finally found it under his crib and noticed that he didn't want to sleep, he just wanted to play. That wasn't going to fly - even on his birthday - so I ended up putting him in his crib and running out of the room. To my surprise, he didn't even cry and fell asleep after awhile.

When he woke up, he was a very happy boy! I got him breakfast and then got him ready to take a bath. I undressed him in his room and had only gotten the diaper off when he bolted for the bathroom... with his bum exposed! I guess he was very excited to take a bath! I got a picture of him crawling towards the bathtub with his little bum showing but I'm sure Josh wouldn't want me to post that... and Hunter probably wouldn't either... :P

We ran to get a few last minute party supplies and also to get Hunter his birthday present from me and Josh. I wanted to make sure that he liked it before I bought it and he sure did! He was laughing and cooing at it! It was a Lightning McQueen car that he could push around and ride on it. He loved it!


After we got home, he took a nap while I got the rest of his party ready. We were going to have a pasta bar at his party, so I made the breadsticks, the marinara sauce and the cake. I decided to make his birthday cake because I wanted a specially shaped cake (which I'll explain in my next post) and it was a lot harder than I thought! The cake was supposed to "slide" right out of the pan because I greased and floured it - but it didn't. So I had to piece it back together and hope that the frosting would cover my mistake. After speaking to both my mom and Josh's mom, they told me to freeze the cake and it would make the pieces freeze together - and it would also be easier to frost. So that's what I did... and it worked! It was much easier to frost and the pieces held together! PHEW!!! But man, frosting that cake and making it look good took A LOT more time than I thought it would! I swear I was frosting that thing for like 1 1/2 hours! But it was worth it because it turned out really cute!

Josh came home from work a little early to help get things ready. Hunter was really excited to see him! They played for a bit and then it was time for Hunter to take a little cat nap before his party. Josh helped me get the rest of the food ready and helped me finish up some last minute details. After Hunter woke up, we got him looking all cute and after I did his hair, he decided that for his first birthday, he would learn a new trick! He opened my cupboard door! Time for the safety latches...

And that leads us up to the party! And since there is so much to tell about that, I will make another post tomorrow! What a cliffhanger! :P

Part 3

My grandparents have an old cat and Hunter thought that thing was hilarious. Every time the cat moved, Hunter crawled right behind him! I’m sure the cat was getting annoyed but it never tried to bite or claw him. At one point, Hunter was trying to pet it and he pushed his hand through the back of the cat! The cat was really skinny, so his hand went straight to the floor! I was horrified because I didn’t want him to kill the cat! The cat didn’t even flinch – it just sat there like nothing happened!

My Aunt Kelly met us one of the days and we all decided to go to the Santa Ana Zoo. The zoo is small compared to the San Diego Zoo but it was just the right size for Hunter’s attention span. There were a ton of monkeys and Hunter’s favorite was the Lemur. I think that had something to do with the fact that it kind of looked like a cat… There were a few exhibits with small waterfalls in them, so instead of looking at the animals, Hunter just stared down the waterfall. (Remember the post about “wild” water?) We would be like 20 feet away from the exhibit and you couldn’t even SEE the waterfall but you could HEAR it, and he would start to get all jumpy and nervous. It was sort of sad but also kind of funny...

My Grandma left a little earlier than we did from the Zoo and when we got back to their house, there was a little t-shirt and book on their coffee table. She had bought Hunter some souvenirs at the Zoo! How nice!

My Grandpa has a little room right off of his deck that used to be a storage area. He put a window in it (overlooking the golf course they live on) and turned it into his little "hideaway." Hunter apparently needed a little break, so we got one of his Baby Einstein programs out and me and him went in my Grandpa's little room and watched a DVD! Hunter thought that was interesting...

We also went to a park right by their house. There were lots of ducks there that Hunter could look at. He wasn’t too sure about them but he didn’t cry… which is always a good thing. The park had a baby swing, so Hunter was very happy about that!

After the park, it was time to make our way to San Diego. We had lots of fun with our family and we were glad that we were able to spend a few days with them.

To be continued…

Part 2

We continued our drive to Cali on our new battery. Since Hunter was awake now, we had to keep him occupied. So, we hooked up the DVD player that I had borrowed from my grandpa and turned on a Baby Einstein program for him. He thought that was awesome!

We made it to Cali and got checked into our hotel. They had put us on the top floor – the 14^th – so when you looked out the window, you could see the whole city of Anaheim! (We stayed in Anaheim because my sis gave us a free 2 night stay – thanks Kara!) Hunter thought it was so cool! The windows were low enough, so he could crawl right up to them, pull himself up and look at his awesome surroundings!

We met up with my grandma and grandpa who live in Irvine. They had never met Hunter, so they just thought he was the cutest thing! My grandma’s mom also lives with them and she kept saying how adorable he was!

My grandma had Sprite on hand for us because she had asked what we liked to drink before we came. She poured the Sprite in red plastic cups each time we had it. Josh made the mistake of giving Hunter some of his, so every time we had a red cup in our hands, Hunter knew that it had some yummy sugary Sprite in it! But that’s not the end of the “big boy” food that Hunter had while at my grandparents… Josh had decided that Hunter could try any and every food that we had! The things I can remember off the top of my head are quesadillas, guacamole, spaghetti, garlic bread and of course, the Sprite. He loved all of it! So, I guess any inhibitions I had about what foods Hunter could eat went out the window!

My grandparents had a ton of wind chimes, which Hunter loves to play with at Josh’s parent’s house. So, we had to walk around with him and let him play with all of the wind chimes. He would coo and kick his legs in excitement every time we would even get close to them! It was so cute!

They had this rope mat that was by the door to their deck. They would just leave the deck door open so we could go in and out of the house. Hunter was inside playing while we were on the deck and he decided to join us. He had to cross the rope mat and when he got onto it, he apparently didn't like how it felt on his skin, so he got into this "froggy" position. It was so hilarious because he wouldn't move... he would just sit there in this position! By the end of our time with my grandparents, he got over the "weird" feeling of the mat and was crawling back and forth between the house and the deck...

To be continued...

A Side Note...

Before I continue with the rest of our trip, I realized that I never posted an important detail about Hunter that will affect some of the stories that I’m going to post later… The beginning of August, we went up to Bear Lake with my family and took him to the lake. We thought he would like it because he loves taking baths and swimming in pools… but we were wrong. He kept squirming and crying and really wasn’t having a good time. We figured that maybe he just didn’t like it because the water was so cold…

A couple weeks before our trip, we decided that it would be a good idea for us to take a test hike with the backpack we would be using in Yosemite to carry Hunter. We hiked up Farmington Canyon to a little creek. Hunter was fine with the hike until we reached the creek. As soon as Josh got him out to get closer to the water, he freaked out. He was crying and was squirming to get away from the water.

After the incidents with the lake and creek, we decided that Hunter doesn’t like “wild” water. He’s fine with “tame” water – i.e. pools and bathtubs - but doesn’t like lakes and rivers…

Road Trip - Part 1 "The Beginning"

From Sept. 6 - 13, we took a family vacation to California. We drove to Irvine, San Diego and then went to Yosemite. Since it was such a jam packed trip, I will have to post our travels in a few posts. So, I guess I should start from the beginning...

We left at 2 am on Sept. 6, so Hunter could sleep for a lot of the drive down. We were doing great... well, I don't know if I can say "we" because me and Hunter slept thru all of Utah while Josh drove and I know he was exhausted... But we stopped in Mesquite, NV to get gas. Because of the time difference, it was 6:15am. We hadn't accounted for the time difference into our calculations but we figured something would be open for breakfast. Well, we filled up and went to start the car and... nothing. Didn't turn over at all - just clicked. We were like, "WHAT?!? This car is only 3 years old! Why isn't it starting? CRAP!"

By this time, Hunter was awake, so we were trying to figure out what to do. We had just bought jumper cables for just an occassion, so we had someone try to jump us... again, didn't start. It was getting hot and we were parked in the sun, so Josh decided that we should push the car into the shade. Josh told me to push on the front of the car, so I did exactly as I was told - so I thought. He just sat there and stared at me and said, while laughing, "Uh, you have to push in the direction that the wheels are going, not against them..." Well, that made sense looking back (duh) but since I have never "pushed" a car before, I had no idea what I was doing! The attendant at the gas station could see we were obviously having issues, so he came out and helped Josh push the car into the shade.

Now, it was decision time. What do we do? There was an Auto Zone a half a mile down the road that could check out our battery for free, but it didn't open for another hour. And we would have to push the car down there - and since I am apparently a "car pushing" dummy, that would have been disastrous. OR we could call someone and tow the car since the problem was possibly an alternator or starter - which would take who knows how long to fix. Well, we decided that a tow was the best option, so we called the only place open. The guy came and towed the car to his shop about a mile away. The drive in the tow truck was interesting because Hunter got to ride in Josh's lap - which he thought was the funnest thing ever!

Well, we get to the shop and they test the battery and it was completely dead. So, they replaced it (which took all but 5 minutes) and we were good to go. Apparently, when we plugged in the GPS into the car about 5 minutes before we stopped for gas, that had thrown the old battery over the edge... lol.

Josh went to pay for everything while I strapped Hunter into his car seat. Josh came out of the shop shaking his head and got into the car. This is obviously not a good sign after coming out of a mechanic's shop, so I asked, "How much was it?" He said, "A rape... $250." SAY WHAT?!? They charged us $100 for the tow (for 1 mile of towing - ridiculous), $40 for labor (for the 5 minutes of labor - also ridiculous) and $110 for the battery (not so ridiculous but whatever...)

We arrived in Mesquite at 6:15am and left at 7:30am - not bad for all of the issues we had. We decided that it really sucked that we had started our trip with that huge unexpected cost but we were determined to not let it get us down. So, we just put it out of our minds and continued on our journey. Looking back, the cheaper option would have been to wait for Auto Zone to open but how were we going to get the vehicle down there? What a conundrum...

To be continued...

Lights and Climbing

Last month I mentioned that Hunter knows what a "light" is and would sometimes point at it... Well, now he LOVES lights! When we ask him where the light is now, he starts looking up and around and when he finds it, he points right at it! He has gotten so good at flipping the light switch on and off and can do it repeatedly without ANY help! His favorite light in the house is the one right over the front door because there are three different switches that turn it off and on... and that just amazes him! He loves it! If I am carrying him up the stairs and we don't stop to turn on/off the light, he just stares at it and kicks his legs in excitement, like he's saying, "Mom! We gotta turn that on!"

And he climbs up the stairs now! He thinks it's so much fun! He started climbing on things on August 13th... I was on the computer and he was playing on the ground around me. He LOVES the router (because of the blinking lights on it), so to keep him away from it, we put this file box in front of it. That deterred him for a while but then he figured out that he could climb! One minute he's on the floor and the next he's sitting on top of the file box! My mouth just fell open! Thankfully, I had my camera handy while he was in the act! :) He's so freakin cute!

Books and Words

I haven't posted anything for almost a month because things have been so busy! So, here's an update on some things that have been happening...

He absolutely LOVES reading books! For the past few months, it has been our bedtime ritual to read a few books before he goes to sleep. He's been able to turn the pages for a while and he now has favorite stories which he could read over and over! Some of his favorites are "Buzz Buzz Busy Bees," "Where is PB Bear Going," and anything that has touchy feely stuff on it. It's so awesome to look at his little face while I read the words and he just smiles and laughs... And he even likes reading so much that he'll look at books without me! Like yesterday, after we got back from Josh's parent's house, Josh set him down and he crawled straight to his room and started looking at a book! It was the cutest thing, so I had to document it!

Just to prove how much he loves books, he decided that it would be his first word! A couple of weeks ago, Josh was changing his diaper. To keep his little hands busy and out of the diaper, we usually give him a book to hold. When Josh asked him, "Is that your book?" Hunter then said, "oook." I was in the next room and didn't know what was going on until Josh said, in a normal tone (so he wouldn't distract Hunter), "If mommy would quietly come here, she could hear you say 'book...' " So, I walked up to where I could hear but Hunter couldn't see me and I heard him say quietly, "oook." I was so excited that I ran in and gave him a kiss and praised him. I tried to get him to say it again but I guess I messed up his "chi" and he wouldn't say it anymore. Josh said that he was saying it a ton before I went in there. Whoops... should've kept my excitement in check for a little while longer...

But, he has said "book" a few times since then and it is so awesome! He has also added "da da" to his vocabulary and I also think that he says, "no no no." I'm not 100% positive if it's "no no no" because it comes out "noy noy noy" but he only does it when he's upset or mad, so I'm thinking that's what he's saying... I didn't think I said "no" to him that much but I guess I have said it enough for him to pick it up... :P

There are lots more things that he's doing but I will try to post those throughout the week, so I don't bombard this blog with a bunch of posts in one day... I guess that's why I should keep up on this stuff!

America's Got Talent?

Hunter has so many abilities that just amaze me. From his gymnastics to all of the little sounds he makes - he is so stinkin' smart and talented. Maybe I should take him on that show "America's Got Talent" because he's definitely got talent! So here is, but another, cute video of my little guy showing off his smarts! :D (Watch it with sound...)

First Sacrament

I forgot to post this a few weeks ago... On July 19th, Josh decided that it was time for Hunter to have the sacrament. He LOVES water and has eaten plenty of toast / bread, so we figured it was time. The sacrament was passed to us and Josh broke off a piece of his bread to give to Hunter. He ate it and everything was going good... until the water came. Josh decided to get Hunter his own little cup and when he tried to have him drink from it, Hunter wanted to do it himself. So he grabbed the cup - still full of water - and spilled the water everywhere! It went all over Josh's pants and shirt (but none on me, ha ha). It was all I could do not to bust up laughing in the middle of sacrament!